Copyright 2007 Ed Bagley If any of these three agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) could "legally" lie, cheat and steal they would do it every day of the week and twice on Sunday. All three agencies were forced to give out a free credit report to consumers annually; they did not do it willingly and never would have done it without being mandated to do so by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Another example is that the top three credit reporting bureaus agreed to $2.5 million in payments (penalties) as part of settlements negotiated by the Federal Trade Commission to resolve charges that they (each and every one) violated provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by failing to maintain a toll-free telephone number at which personnel are accessible to consumers during normal business hours. In other words, the three top credit reporting agencies mentioned were too cheap to offer the toll-free line and better service on their own, and would not even continue to maintain the toll-free line system they were ordered to implement unless faced with prosecution by the Federal Trade Commission. Pigs in the barnyard are more ethical, trustworthy and honest than the top three credit reporting bureaus. If it looks like a pig, walks like a pig, acts like a pig and smells like a pig, it is a swine. These are businesses that either through their sloppy, inattentive reporting or accurate, quality reporting help determine your credit score which determines how much you will pay or not pay to fulfill your monthly mortgage contract. Be advised that your credit score from each agency will likely vary because, whether recorded correctly or not, some lenders do not report information about borrowers to all three credit bureaus. Here are 6 things you can do to stay abreast with your credit reports and credit scores: 1) Secure copies of your credit reports and credit scores annually, even if you have to pay to get credit scores from two of the agencies too cheap to give them to you. 2) Dispute errors that you find in the reports. The credit reporting agencies would not care if an error caused you great harm, and they would not (singly or collectively) notify you if they found an error that they knew would hurt your score. They get paid by businesses for your report. You are nothing to them other than the fact that there would be no credit reporting business without you. 3) Pay off credit card balances as it is one of the factors used to determine your FICO score, which is your total debt relative to your available credit line, called "credit utilization". 4) Do not close unused accounts as closing these accounts reduces the amount of credit you have available. Cut up the card and do not use it but keep the account open as it can help your credit score. 5) Do not open new accounts as it could hurt rather than help your credit score even though by doing so you will increase your credit utilization. 6) Pay your bills on time because 35% of your credit score is determined by your credit payment history. (Note: This is Part 2 of a 3-Part Series.)
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